Fourth of July celebrations have already started, and everyone’s craving an all-American treat. Forget the baked pies and homemade ice cream — at this point, you need something that can be whipped up in minutes, not hours. Get your fix with a frothy float. It’s as American as apple pie and a decadent way to slake your thirst in this heat.

Vanilla ice cream with Dr Pepper, cola, root beer or lemon-lime soda constituted the floats of our childhood. With today’s profusion of soda and ice cream flavors, you can explore new combinations.

Scroll through the above prep tips and float combinations that will rock your Fourth of July party, including some adult float ideas to serve in lieu of cocktails.

Tina Danze is a Dallas freelance writer.

Floating lessons

Thoroughly chill sodas.

Thick glasses, such as beer mugs, pint glasses or soda glasses, retain cold best. To chill glasses, put them in the freezer or refrigerator for up to two hours or chill them in a bucket filled with ice water.

For the easiest, prettiest floats, fill a 16-ounce glass 2/3 to 3/4 full with the liquid float base of your choice; then add two scoops of ice cream. You could pour the soda over the ice cream, but the ice cream will be submerged and the top portion of the soda will be all foam. A compromise option is following each scoop of ice cream with a pouring of soda. You may even add a third scoop perched on the edge of the glass if you like.

If a soda is too sweet, use a little less of it and add a splash of club soda. Or add a splash of cream or half-and-half to the soda.

Serve floats with a straw and a long-handled spoon (such as an iced-tea spoon) for eating the ice cream between sips. Crate & Barrel sells a combination spoon-straw.

Some people will want to add soda as they drink the float, so leave bottles out for guests to pour over the remaining ice cream.

Beyond the basics

Sodas: Choose from the leading mass-market brands and specialty or craft sodas in a rainbow of colors and flavors. Large supermarkets stock some specialty sodas — including Italian sodas in flavors such as pomegranate, blood orange and mango-passion fruit. Natural sodas are more abundant than ever; popular brands include Boylan, Izze, Dry, Maine Root and Jones. Whole Foods Market has its own label of natural sodas.

Dr Pepper and Big Red aren’t the only Texas sodas these days. Joining them are sodas ranging from cherry limeade to orange cream soda, made by Dublin Bottling Works (formerly Dublin Dr Pepper) and Barton Springs Soda Co. Both companies use pure cane sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup.

You’ll find a large selection of out-of-the-ordinary options at specialty supermarkets, World Market and Total Wine.

Beer and other alcoholic beverages: Certain beers are well-suited for floats. Extra-malty beers, like stouts and porters, have chocolate, toffee and coffee notes that welcome a scoop of vanilla or chocolate ice cream, as well as other ice cream flavors. Lambics are fruit beers that would pair well with vanilla, berry or cherry ice creams.

Sparkling wines with a sweeter profile, such as prosecco, are good bases for floats made with citrus or berry sorbets.

Just as sodas are often mixers for cocktails, ice cream floats can become adult drinks with the addition of a shot of bourbon or rum to the soda.

Beyond plain ice cream: Not only are there hundreds of ice cream flavors, but there are options beyond ice cream: sherbets, sorbets and frozen yogurts, including Greek frozen yogurt. Sherbets and sorbets work best with citrus-flavored sodas.